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Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
3090 stories archived
Canada women snap eight-game skid against USA to avenge Olympic hockey heartbreak
Kraemer, Tremblay score first senior international goals Fillier nets winner after Americans erase two-goal deficit Canada avenge Olympic heartbreak in worlds tune-up Canada ended an eight-game losing streak against the United States with a 5-3 victory on Wednesday night in Windsor, Ontario, as newcomers Caitlin Kraemer and Rosalie Tremblay scored their first senior international goals in a rematch of February’s Olympic gold-medal game. The win marked Canada’s first victory over their archrivals since 2025 and came eight months after the Americans snatched Olympic gold in Milan , where captain Hilary Knight scored the equalizer with 2:04 remaining in regulation before Megan Keller struck in overtime to deny Canada a fifth Olympic title. Continue reading...
Utah files criminal charges against prediction market Kalshi and company co-founders
Firm calls charges, which include violating state gambling ban and profiting from illegal activity, ‘crazy overreach’ Utah on Wednesday filed criminal charges against prediction market operator Kalshi and two of its executives, months after a federal judge rejected Kalshi’s effort to prevent Utah from enforcing its strict anti-gambling laws against the activity. The felony charges could represent a new tactic in how states try to assert regulatory authority over the fast-expanding activity, a clash that appears headed to a showdown at the US supreme court. Continue reading...
Obama brings star power for Democratic midterms to suburban Atlanta
Former US president comes to Georgia to support Jon Ossoff for US Senate and Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor Barack Obama, speaking at a Wednesday campaign rally in suburban Atlanta, offered a closing argument for Democrats in the final week of the midterm election campaign. “These are not serious people,” he said of Donald Trump and the Republican party. “And we’re all paying the price for their lack of seriousness.” Continue reading...
Albania imposes $6,000 fine for demonstrators present at a protest that turns violent
The fine – six times the average monthly salary – will apply to people present at violent protests, even if they don’t personally commit violent acts Albania has introduced fines of more than $6,000 for demonstrators who participate in a protest that turns violent, even if they don’t personally commit violent acts, as the government tries to clamp down on the gatherings calling for the prime minister’s resignation . The capital, Tirana, has been racked by months of anti-government protests that in recent days have deteriorated into pitched battles between the security forces and protesters. Continue reading...
Judge rebuffs Trump DoJ’s bid to order California to set aside 20,000 ballots
Justice department had demanded state segregate ballots from people it claimed were non-citizens A federal judge declined to order California election officials to segregate ballots from people the Trump administration claimed were non-citizens, rebuffing a legally thin request from the justice department that appeared designed to cast doubt over the results of the midterms. The ruling from US district judge David Carter, nominated to the federal bench by Bill Clinton, comes about two weeks after the justice department delivered a USB drive to election officials in Los Angeles and Sacramento that it said contained the names of 20,000 non-citizens on the state’s voter rolls. There are more than 23 million registered voters in California and non-citizen voting is extremely rare . Continue reading...
Tributes pour in for labor leader Dolores Huerta: ‘Fought for farm workers to the very end’
Lawmakers, activists and union leaders across the US remember the co-founder of United Farm Workers union Following the news that Dolores Huerta – the civil rights icon who popularized the rallying cry “Sí, se puede! – had died at the age of 96 on Wednesday, activists, lawmakers and civil rights leaders paid tribute to Hureta’s long and lasting legacy. In California – where Huerta helped found the United Farm Workers (UFW) union – her death was deeply felt. It was in California’s central valley that she laid the foundations for the United Farm Workers, and helped organize the 1965 Delano grape strike – a national boycott of table grapes that resulted in better wages and working conditions for grape pickers. Several schools in California bear her name, and murals across the state depict her likeness. And in 2018, California declared 10 April – her birthday – Dolores Huerta Day. Continue reading...
Microsoft posts $92.3bn in quarterly revenue after offering buyouts to 60,000 employees
Software giant reports $36.6bn in profit, beating Wall Street expectations, as Azure cloud computing division grows 48% Microsoft gained billions of dollars in stock market value Wednesday afternoon after it reported better than expected revenue and profit, just days after it offered voluntary buyouts to some 60,000 employees. The office software giant’s growth was fueled by its Azure cloud computing division, which grew by 48% in the September quarter. Continue reading...
Non-profit group leaks data of more than 40,000 homeland security workers
Information released by Distributed Denial of Secrets is the third such government data disclosure in the last month The leak website Distributed Denial of Secrets said on Wednesday it has released data on more than 40,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, including details about officials working in sensitive fields such as surveillance and human intelligence. DHS did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Continue reading...
California weather is ‘well into extreme territory’ with historic high tides
Seawater surges into low-lying communities from San Diego to San Francisco Bay Area, submerging streets, homes and businesses Historic high tides have caused chaos up and down the California coast this week, as parts of the state were inundated by record-breaking water levels. Seawater surged into low-lying communities from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay Area, submerging streets, flooding homes and businesses, and jamming important transportation corridors and train routes. Kayakers and paddle boarders could be seen gliding through typically busy thoroughfares in Marin county, north of San Francisco, on Monday and Tuesday. Several drivers had to be rescued from floating cars in the area, while cyclists who had attempted to cross the temporary lagoon that had formed quickly found themselves waist-deep. Further south, in cities such as Newport Beach, water pounded the emergency infrastructure set up to keep out the swelling sea, which seeped through berms, seawalls and sandbag blockades along the shoreline. Continue reading...
Dolores Huerta – a life in pictures
Dolores Huerta, the celebrated 1960s labor union leader and civil rights activist, died on Wednesday in California at the age of 96, her family said in a statement. Huerta was a co-founder with Cesar Chavez, another veteran unionist and political activist, of the United Farm Workers union (UFW), which was credited with improving pay and conditions for agricultural workers through a series of strikes, boycotts and protests in the 1960s and 1970s. Dolores Huerta, California labor leader and civil rights champion, dies aged 96 Continue reading...
Embattled Bari Weiss says she is not ‘focused’ on declining 60 Minutes ratings
CBS News editor-in-chief sidesteps viewership concerns and says flagship show doing ‘tremendously well’ CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has spoken publicly for the first time about the ratings challenges the network has experienced under her year-long tenure, sidestepping concerns about diminished viewership at the Sunday show 60 Minutes by saying it was not her top priority. “I could never build anything if I were focused on the precise number of people that happen to tune in to the second feature on 60 Minutes on a given Sunday,” she said at an industry conference on Wednesday organized by the tech publication the Information. The news organization did not offer press credentials. Continue reading...
Australian SAS officers knew about unlawful ‘throwdowns’ on dead Afghans, report says
Nothing done to stop planting weapons on dead Afghans, ADF inspector says, as ‘breakdown of command’ allowed ‘egregious behaviour’ Get our daily political email , free app or daily news podcast Some Australian SAS officers knew that soldiers under their command were using “throwdowns” – planting weapons on dead Afghan civilians to portray them as combatants – but did nothing to stop the unlawful practice, a previously unpublished military report has said. Posted online this week, the executive summary of a 2021 investigation into the “cultural context” of the special operations command by the inspector general of the Australian Defence Force (IGADF) is scathing about the “breakdown of command” and the erosion of military discipline during special forces operations in Afghanistan, which “resulted in episodes of potential and actual egregious behaviour”. Continue reading...
New book makes fiery claims about Jared Kushner’s finances in Trump’s first term
Kushner threatens to sue, denying allegations that two slush funds were set up to influence his Middle East role A new book containing incendiary claims about Jared Kushner ’s financial dealings during Donald Trump ’s first term has ignited a political and media firestorm. The book by author Matthew Cole is called Princes and Thieves: Jared Kushner and Mohamed bin Zayed’s Secret Plot to Remake the Middle East and was released in the US this week. An excerpt was published by Vanity Fair last Thursday, and immediately drew a furious response from Kushner, who called its claims “completely insane”. The book contains numerous allegations about Kushner, whose father-in-law is Trump and who has served as one of his top diplomatic envoys in the Middle East – the most explosive of which are claims linking him to huge bank accounts allegedly funded by Gulf states. Continue reading...
EU backs away from offer to Canada to start ‘associate member’ talks
Watered-down version of statement to be issued at end of Montreal summit instead offers ‘ever closer association’ The EU has backed away from its offer to Canada to start talks on becoming an “associate member” after disagreements between members states just as an EU-Canada summit was set to begin in Montreal. A draft of a joint statement to be issued after the end of the summit, which runs Thursday and Friday, showed a watered-down version offering “an ever closer association of Canada to the EU, short of full membership itself”. Continue reading...
‘Worldwide legacy’: almost $20m raised to protect majestic tract of land in far north Queensland
Bush Heritage hopes to buy Wooroora station, which links wet sclerophyll forest and savanna woodland and is home to 12 endangered species Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A majestic tract of land in far north Queensland that links wet tropics world heritage rainforest and contains headwaters that flow to the Great Barrier Reef could be bought and protected by Christmas, after a conservation group raised more than $19m in private donations to buy the cattle station. Wooroora spans more than 20,000 hectares of largely intact wet sclerophyll forest and savanna woodland on the lands of the Jirrbal people about 100km south-west of Cairns – and borders Bush Heritage’s existing 43,575-hectare Yourka Reserve in one of the most biodiverse regions in Australia . Continue reading...
California election official says federal agents threatened him over ‘voter fraud’
Keaton Denlay says agents handed him ‘poorly formatted Excel spreadsheet’ and threatened to criminally prosecute him A California county elections official is speaking out about the Department of Justice’s campaign against purported “voter fraud”, saying federal officials provided him a disorganized list of names filled with inaccuracies – and threatened to criminally prosecute him if he didn’t take action. Keaton Denlay, the county clerk-recorder for Butte county, a region north of Sacramento, said a federal agent on Friday hand-delivered what appeared to be a printout of a “poorly formatted Excel spreadsheet with missing and jumbled information”. The DoJ claimed the list was of 47 “likely” noncitizens who were unlawfully registered to vote and demanded the county set aside their ballots. But Denlay said the document was riddled with errors and lacking crucial details, and he declined to act on it. Continue reading...
US ambassador suggests Trump could blame Canada if midterms don’t go his way
Pete Hoekstra, controversial US ambassador to Canada, has also accused Canadian officials of interfering in US elections The US ambassador Pete Hoekstra has suggested Canada could be blamed if Republicans perform poorly in next week’s midterm elections, the latest intervention from a controversial figure who has been accused of inflaming a bitter dispute that has angered and baffled residents of both countries. On Wednesday, CTV news reported that Hoekstra told business leaders at a closed door meeting that if a number of swing races – including Maine and Michigan – go to the Democrats, it could make things harder for Canada because Donald Trump might try to blame the loss on it. Continue reading...
Education secretary Linda McMahon plans to spend nearly $43,000 on office furniture
Trump ally, who is seeking to shutter the department, had said office relocation would save taxpayers $4.8m annually The Trump administration has insisted its controversial education cuts are saving “millions of dollars” after it was reported that Linda McMahon, secretary of education, is planning to spend roughly $43,000 on new furniture for her office. McMahon’s office told Congress that the secretary’s current furniture is worn out and “cannot be configurationally or aesthetically integrated into the agency’s new office space”, according to non-public records seen by the New York Times. Continue reading...
Politics live: Chalmers calls social media a ‘business model for hate’; half of young Australians say US a ‘threat’
Follow the day’s news live Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Australia’s immediate neighbours are trusted more than historic allies, according to a new survey AAP reports on, which shows the United States is increasingly considered a “threat”. Only half of the Australians polled in a YouGov survey, commissioned by the Australia Institute, considered longtime ally the US a “friend”. Meanwhile 42% perceived America as a “threat” (defined as a nation viewed with caution or suspicion). That climate is no accident. Hate is monetised and weaponised by algorithmic rage-bait. Extremism is incentivised; nuance is penalised. The most available public figures are the most vulnerable. So tonight is a little reminder of why reason and research matters, why nuance matters, what’s at risk and what’s at stake and why that matters too. Continue reading...
Budget 2026: Healey hikes taxes on banks and landlords to fund £100 handouts to 20m households
Few surprises as chancellor uses low-key speech blaming ‘global economic storms’ for stoking energy prices and cost of living crisis Budget 2026: key points at a glance Briefing: key questions answered by Heather Stewart and Pippa Crerar Editorial: Budget’s bold ambitions and welcome first steps John Healey raised taxes on banks and landlords to fund a £100 winter handout for 20 million families as official forecasts made clear there is no end in sight for the cost of living crisis. In his first budget, the chancellor blamed “global economic storms” for the grim outlook, as the war in Iran drives up oil and gas prices. Continue reading...
Knifeman on LNER train ‘caused terror and fear on unimaginable scale’, court hears
Anthony Williams is accused of attempting to murder passengers and staff on board a London-bound train last November A knifeman “caused terror and fear on an unimaginable scale” to passengers when he stabbed 10 people on board a London-bound train, a court has heard. Anthony Williams, 33, is accused of attempting to murder 10 passengers and staff on board an LNER train on 1 November last year and stabbing four people in the 24 hours before. Continue reading...
Flávio Bolsonaro lands in Florida after fleeing Brazil – video
A jet carrying the Brazilian far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro has landed in Miami, Florida, where the losing candidate in Sunday’s presidential election runoff left the airport under police escort without speaking to the press. The Gulfstream IV, registered as LV-JQW, left Guayaquil in Ecuador earlier in the day. After losing Sunday’s election to the incumbent president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro disappeared for more than 24 hours, until Argentina’s migration authorities said he had entered the country by land on Tuesday night Flávio Bolsonaro lands in Miami after Brazil election loss Flávio Bolsonaro flees Brazil after presidential election loss, reports say Continue reading...
Budget briefing: the key questions answered by Heather Stewart and Pippa Crerar
Our economics and political editors dissect John Healey’s maiden budget The Guardian’s economics editor, Heather Stewart, and political editor, Pippa Crerar, assess the chancellor’s budget: what he said, why – and what he left out. Continue reading...
Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign reportedly recruited second Dan Sullivan in Alaska Senate race
Republicans have condemned the presence of two Dan Sullivans on the ballot, calling it a ploy to split votes Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign was behind an effort to recruit a challenger with almost the exact same name as Republican US senator Dan Sullivan, both of whom will appear on the ballot in next week’s midterm elections, the New York Times reported Wednesday. Republicans have condemned the presence in the race of two candidates named Dan Sullivan – one the two-term US senator, the second a retiree living in south-eastern Alaska with scant political experience – calling the newcomer a ploy by Democrats to cost the incumbent re-election by splitting his supporters. Continue reading...